Personal Opinions : A Look on Falcon BMS 4.32

Since it's release in 1998, Falcon 4.0 have seen many community modding efforts that, amazingly, kept it very much up to date even to this very day. Centering around F-16 Fighting Falcon (or with it's more popular nickname, the Viper), Falcon introduced players in to a very much alive war, where they were but a small unit, doing it's part. Besides popularity of F-16 as a fighter that is serving pretty much all over the world, Falcon 4.0 derivatives, still are the pretty much only hardcore, full realism 4th gen fighter jet simulators in the market.

History of various Falcon 4.0 based simulations would be so long, a whole web page with long articles dedicated to that single subject would hardly be enough to cover it with justice, therefore, that is beyond this article's scope. If you download the schema linked here, you may find at least a lineage of Falcon 4.0 mods.

However, our focus for this particular wall of text would be the Benchmark Sims Falcon BMS 4.32. Benchmark Sims is one of the many teams that put themselves under the massive weight of developing a sim that will please hardcore simulation folks, using the Falcon 4.0 codebase, and to provide their efforts for free to the community.

In contrast to Free Falcon, BMS is totally centered around F-16, F-16C Block 50/52 to be specific. BMS manual is called a dash1 for a reason, it shares the information it provides with actual aircraft manual, except from a few parts where it is noted otherwise. BMS still does allow you to fly every other fixed wing plane in sim, but with much less detailed flight models, very low res cockpits, or actually don't have any cockpit and use F-16 cockpit instead. Even for aircraft that have a cockpit, all the controls and avionics actually mimic that of F-16, although their respective abilities, ranges etc will differ, and if an aircraft doesn't have radar for example, you won't be able to use it. Other aircraft are just there to provide a complementary novelty, and if there are volunteers, to spice up potential multiplayer campaigns.

Currently, being only study level multirole supersonic 4th generation fighter jet simulation with an actual combat theater, 6dof cockpit and avionics in it does not disappoint at all. F-16 flight model is modeled as accurate as is possible with the public information available from NASA wind tunnel data, FLCS (flight control system that "sanitize" pilot inputs and keep the F-16 afloat) code is pretty much the code of real aircraft. Currently in 2014, BMS 4.32 is the only current version of Falcon 4.0, even proprietary Allied Force can be said to have fell by the wayside, and Free Falcon has closed shop. There is Free Falcon Open Source Project, continuing from forked source of Free Falcon, but it doesn inspire much confidence so far, and BMS is and have always been, more on the hardcore study side of things in it's focus.

Cockpit is done beautifully

Graphically, compared to other Falcon 4.0 flavors, BMS uses a more current DirectX library (DirectX 9 if memory serves right). While they obviously are not from a new engine and newer DX library, HDR and shader effects still are both very nice looking and not much taxing on system at all. Lighting, bloom, heat blur and shadows are ahead of any other Falcon based sim, by a mile. Rain drops that distort view on canopy look just beautiful. In fact, with the lighting effects, 6dof cockpit of F-16 doesn't shy away much from modern titles like some of the DCS cockpits. Sky and most of the weapon / aircraft models are quite nicely done, and textures in BMS has a nice amount of contrast to them, looking both pleasing and realistic. Though, in overcast weather, things look rather dull, as they tend to do in real life too. Also those nice shining effect on models sometime look quite a bit overdone. For 3D models, Falcon BMS team puts a maximum of 30000 polygon limit per aircraft and with appropriate LODs implemented for displaying highest poly model only when it is close enough to viewpoint of player. Even with this limitation, there are some very gorgeous looking 3d models in stock BMS 4.32. One thing that is lacking would be damage visuals. Damage does nothing to external looks of aircraft currently in BMS. Visual cues to damage are fire and smoke trails. There are community mods that use much higher polygon models, they do not get integrated to official releases for sake of maintaining performance of sim in crowded theaters with ground war and air combat happening all over the place on a very large map. For Falcon BMS, if it's a choice between simulating an active, high intensity theather of war, and something else, that something else takes a backseat. Optimization of code, and optimization between eye candy / simulator performance, are finely tuned aspects in BMS and this makes it the most stable Falcon 4.0 derivative. Speaking of maps, main theater and stock campaign for BMS is Korea, but there are other 3rd party theaters, some with their own 3d models and even additional aircraft. These theaters tend to have higher resolution terrain tiles as well. With stock campaign of Korea, landscape detail of terrain look a bit bland from medium altitude, quite low res from low altitude but, from up high, in my opinion it looks beautiful enough. In default terrain, shorelines would be my biggest candidate for complaints, but for me it's just eye candy and doesn't bother me too much, but I appreciate that it may well bother others pretty significantly.

Loaded up and pretty... Visible in the left chin hardpoint is HTS pod for advanced HARM employment

While a freely offered project, BMS actually has a palpably professional approach to what they do, they are serious, and they act according to their plan, and nothing else. Since they don't have customers per se, they don't have to listen to customer complaints for starters. I believe that at times, a too loud and infulential community, can actually derail a product. BMS seem, pretty much immune to this due to their "we have a roadmap, and we do it our way" approach. As with any full-time proprietary vs hobby-amateur spirit situation, there are pros and cons. Pro side would be the indepedence I have touched earlier in this paragraph, and the fact that products would be done with nothing less than pure, unbiased, unwashed passion. Con side, people have of course lives to run, and besides other things, they have to put meal on the table, enjoy the life etc. Therefore they will have fewer time to put on these projects, leading longer time periods between released updates. One thing we know is, BMS is still being updated and improved, and we will see 4.33 when it's ready. To be honest, when it's ready doesn't get that much shorter in proprietary sim software either, with the definiton of "when it's ready" in flight sim development being "anytime between now and the heat death of the universe" :). Another aspect of BMS team is, they play fair and careful, any mods not explicitly state they are %100 self made, or original authors have provided written authorization of their assets to be used in said mod, will not be allowed to be shared on Benchmark Sims forums, and anything that is not based on publicly released and unclassified solid data, will not be modeled / released by Benchmark Sims team. Also, in order to install BMS, you will need to show original Falcon4.exe to installer, to confirm you own the original title.

While mission running mechanics differ significantly, like DCS, BMS also has a mission editor (tactical engagement designer, in this case), which allow you to design any scenario you can come up with, for multi or single player. Though any mission (or rather, tactical engagement in Falcon speak) you create via Falcon's editor is potentially much more dynamic and long lasting, and you can save the mission state at any time, and continue flying another sortie later, even with multiplayer. This, is seriously awesome.

Potential adversaries range from old...

...to new

Roster of units you can put in missions is pretty comprehensive. There are many aircraft, in multiple versions, from many roles and eras, manufactured in USA, USSR, Russia, China and Europe. Aircraft weapons are at least as extensive, along with ground units. Air to air missiles of both IR and ARH flavors are pretty deadly compared to DCS, but if you know what you do and where the missile is coming from, it is still possible to trash them. SARH ones though, seem much less impressive here.

If we get to the star of the show, the F-16C, how much is it modeled, besides being a gorgeous figher to look at?

Obviously, any classified or irrelevant in sim feature & switch are not modeled and this is stated openly in manual and forums. It is worth noting that, this is not really different in DCS either. However, systems / avionics and flight modeling of F-16 are still top notch, to the degree that, reportedly, actual F-16 pilots find the sim awesome. Features that are exclusive to Block 40 or earlier are usually deprecated (as they presumably might be on real Block 50 aircraft as well). Targeting pod that is modeled is Sniper XR ATP. While older blocks, or nations that didn't get advanced targeting pods will display LANTIRN in the external view, TGP page in MFDs will still display Sniper screen, and terrain following radar mode of LANTIRN isn't modeled. Another not yet implemented feature is SPI logic we are accustomed from DCS : A-10C, but it can be worked around with already implemented systems like markpoints. Air to ground radar is a pretty damn cool thing to have indeed, especially in open areas :). Radar is modeled nicely with all it's air to air and air to ground, or even purely ranging modes.

Air to ground radar MFD page

Majority, infact, almost all of switches, knobs, keys and MFD pages, as well as ICP & DED functionality are completely there. Using SMS page, many release profile parameters for majority of weapons can be set. Weapons need to be powered on before use as in real life, and such weapons have a spool up time just as in the aircraft sensors like FCR (Fire Control Radar) and TGP.

F-16C Block 50/52 in BMS has an impressive arsenal. Besides fixed M61 Vulcan 20mm gatling gun, many weapons, recon or jamming pods or fuel tanks can be carried on 9 external hardpoints under wings and fuselage, as well as various sensor pods in two hardpoints under air inlet chin. A few of them aren't modeled with exact real life avionics and are uitilized otherwise, but reportedly these weapons will either be improved in realism or get deprecated in next release.

JHMCS helmet display system is modeled, and is a joy to have the HUD info whereever you look, besides it is great to use with AIM-9X for high off boresight shots.

Currently available air to air weapons include :
- AIM-9 P, M and X Sidewinder variants
- AIM-120 B and C AMRAAM
Older blocks also have ability to carry AIM-7 Sparrow missiles, and some F-16A MLU variants operated by some European countries carry IRIS-T

Air to Ground ordnance for Block 50/52 are :
- BDU-33 practice bombs
- BLU-107 Durandal anti-runway bombs
- B61 Tactical nuclear bomb
- Mk-20, CBU-52,58,71,87,94 and 97 cluster bombs
- GBU-10,12 and 24 Paweway LGBs
- GBU-31,32 and 38 JDAMs
- AGM-65 A, B, D and G Mavericks
- AGM-88 HARM
- Mk-82 and 84 free fall bombs, low drag and high drag versions
- AGM-154 JSOW and AGM-158 JASSM. Though, these aren't modeled in exacting accuracy, and may or may not get removed in next release
- LAU-3 Hydra rocket pods
 F-16A MLU variants operated by some European countries can also carry AGM-119 Penguin anti ship missile, GBU-22 Paweway LGB and BL-755 cluster bomb.

Obviously, options for both air to air and air to ground, whether guided, unguided, SEAD or even anti-ship to a degree, are all numerous.

For HARM alone, there are about 2-3 different MFD pages which can be used for targeting and employment of weapon. Also, you can use IDM (Improved Data Modem) to share information with other F-16s and have them displayed on your HSD page (Horizontal Situation Display, essentially waypoint map as in TAD of A-10C). Targetting pod can be used for air-to-air identification as well it's more usual air-to-ground applications.

Now lets get to the flight model. Flight model is an advanced physics model that is tailored for F-16C from publicly available NASA published wind tunnel test results. But, for an aircraft like F-16, which fly by a computer fly-by-wire system, flight model is half of the equation, other half would be FLCS, the flight control system. FLCS code in BMS is, as close as it gets to real thing. Simulation and even real F-16 pilots are praising it everywhere. Obviously I haven't flown an actual F-16 therefore can't comment with any certainty on that myself. My observations are, it feels a very agile aircraft and easy to control, easy to take off and land. Though, I don't know if it's because F-16 is an FLCS controlled aircraft or flight model itself, it also feels a bit too stable. When you get slow though, a good portion of that stability and controllability goes away though. While it is very difficult to depart it from controlled flight, it can happen, and it can be quite difficult to recover, if you were low, ejecting is only valid option. There is a CAT I / CAT III switch in the cockpit, used to tell the aircraft whether you are heavily loaded with bombs or are lightly loaded for air to air. In CAT III position, FLCS limits the angle of attack and roll rate of aircraft to safe limits for heavy external loadouts. Speaking of heavy loadouts, F-16 becomes a whole different beast with them, and flight performance diminishes quite dramatically. Not that it becomes an ungainly dump druck, it doesn't, but it's just not the same as a light and slick viper anymore.

While the main and most well simulated variant is F-16C Block 50 and 52, and mainly their USAF incarnations, there still are many more F-16 types to pick from. List includes even Agressor Squadron and Thunderbirds F-16s. Actual combat variants start from F-16A Block 15, goes through Blocks 25,30,32,40,42,50,52, MLU upgraded Block 30, and HAF 52+ both with and without CFTs. Their aero, thrust and weight values are adjusted accordingly, and their weapon choices vary among each other. For pure dogfight maneuvrability, Block 30 seems to be the best, but latter versions have better avionics, weapons and better engines.

While all other fixed wing aircraft are also flyable, as mentioned above, only the F-16 is modeled to a high fidelity degree. That said, two others have both cockpit and flight model wise more work put on them then the rest of non F-16 roster : A-10 and Mirage 2000 (in C, -5F and D variants). Difference is apparent between Mirage and F-16 already from takeoff run, which seems more finicky in Mirage. Although, some of the less advanced flight models seem fine too, for example, the MiG-21 I've flown out of curiosity had a performance quite in line with what I would expect from it, I have put myself through the pain of fighting against an F-16 in it, and it was painful, but also challenging and therefore fun :).

A heavily loaded Mirage 2000D

Aircraft is hardly the strongest point of Falcon franchise though. Yes, they are pretty great, but there are sims with at least as great or greater aircraft modeling around the town. But, aircraft aside, what is it that makes this sim so special then?

It is the simulation of war, theatre, dynamic missions / campaigns, importance of assets used, targets struck, friendlies protected and well... being a part of war, rather than being the hollywood action hero lonewolf in it.

First off, AI in Falcon BMS feels ahead of what competition currently has to offer. They do pretty decent in dogfights, they do pretty decent in ground attack, and since amount of lost aircraft matter, they do fine in running to fight another day too! When tasked with somethnig, they fly and do their thing, and react accordingly to events / threats encountered. Map is making up for lack of eye candy features by being really large, and fuel economy, aerial tankers or external fuel tanks, do matter. After all, F-16 isn't exactly a long range aircraft. Enemy SAM sites can ambush you by staying dormant and suddenly opening up radars and batteries when they suspect hostile presence. When you fire on a semi-mobile SAM threat like SA-6 (KUB) from a long range, and they detect the missile, they'll just shut the radar off, pack up and haul ass to another location, they'll be supressed until they go up again, but your missile is wasted and they live to threaten you and allied flights again. Sophisticated and long ranged big threats like SA-10 (S300), is most likely already fired at you the moment you see a "10" symbol on RWR, since they are command guided and won't cause a launch warning, and since they can fire from so far, you won't see smoke plume either. Dogfighting AI pilots CAN actually visually lose you and decide to disengage and go their own way. Many flights of aircraft, actually packages of flights, go around in battlefield, doing various tasks, striking important infrastructure or military targets, protecting others doing that, target enemy's high value aerial assets, protecting theirs, provide refuleing or refuel themselves etc. Ground forces advance to capture assets of opposing side including airbases. Speking of ground forces, you don't add individual vehicles on mission, but instead add battalions, pre defined groups of vehicles. These can range from artillery to mechanized, lightly equipped infantry convoys, tanks and air defence groups. IFVs aren't snipers as they are in most other sims, instead, they fire a barrage. Even infantry with their AK-47s fire, but their chances of hitting or seriously damaging are very low. Most battlions (convoys in a sense) have trucks and lightly armed APCs, which were sitting ducks in most sims, yet, here they can stop and deploy infantry, most with some form of MANPADS... Being a supersonic agile plane, early generation MANPADS pose little threat though, but some of the more elite enemies pack much newer and deadlier MANPADS. Also, most convoys has 2-4 short range air defence assets like Strela, Shilka or Tunguska type of vehicles. You can practice everything from a tossed barrage of cluster bombs to picking them one by one with Mavericks and LGBs, you hit high importance infrastructure targets with JDAMs, or indeed with iron bombs. What's more interesting with missions is, you can create them with a timeline, interface is designed to create long running scenarios with multiple sorties, even possibly spanning in-game days. At any time, status of engagement can be saved to resumed later, even in multiplayer. Once the engagement is running, main screen is the map, where either sim itself, or one of the players create air tasking orders. Essentially, mission packages with flights tasked at different missions / targets. Also in this map screen, available ground forces can be sent to anywhere. Once task for aircraft have been created, then loadouts for these aircraft are chosen, then while game time is still running these aircraft get ready for takeoff. Players can choose one of these tasked aircraft, once they click fly, they will be presented a choice to start on ramp with a coldstart, on taxiway with a started aircraft or on the runway, each option requires a different amount of game time to elapse before player is presented the 3D world view in their aircraft. Both ground and air weapons, on vehicles or aircraft, are deadly. Falcon mission and campaign system is, after a decade and a half, still the BEST around the simulation scene.

Being pretty as usual...

Overall, Falcon BMS is pretty amazing especially more so when one consider it is being offered for essentially free and it is built upon improving a sim from 1998. It still the most relevant sim today for large scale potentially peer-vs-peer modern era air combat.

Now, can you say this high altitude F-5 isn't gorgeous?

While it is not the exact place to look for pure eye candy, given the age of engine, I find it impressive how awesome looking it can get sometimes.

Falcon BMS is taking the old Falcon 4.0 and making it still completely relevant for any hardcore, study sim lovers who are interested in modern day conflicts, especially the high intesity ones, and still offers more to come in future when 4.33 update is completed and ready to release. If you haven't already, you definitely should look at Falcon BMS 4.32.

Honestly, I couldn't finish this without showing some vapour spurting MiG-21...

All the screenshots in the article are from stock Korea terrain and stock 3d models / textures.